Last week, Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour, presented to the Health Sciences Association of Alberta and the United Nurses of Alberta about the global energy transformation and how it is already affecting Alberta’s economy and workers.

What is the global energy transformation? Well, you may have noticed that the price of oil is lower than it has been, but what you may not know is that it may never get much higher.

Why? There are three big reasons.

Our biggest customer has become our biggest competitor

The US fracking boom has flooded global energy markets, suppressing oil prices and making the US the world’s biggest oil producer.

Oil and gas companies are replacing jobs with automation.

In response to lower prices, oil companies are using automation and tech to drive down costs. Driverless trucks at Suncor and unmanned SAGD facilities at Cenovus are just the beginning.

The world is moving away from fossil fuels.

Climate change is happening and the world is doing something about it. World demand for oil is projected to peak by 2026, then start declining.

What are our solutions? Diversify both within the oil and gas sector and beyond it. Invest in infrastructure and people. Protect workers’ rights and the progress we’ve made. Use our resource wealth to prepare for the future.

What can you do? Re-elect Rachel Notley and our NDP government who prove every day that they work for Alberta workers, find practical solutions when problems come up and continue to prepare Alberta for the future.

To learn more about the global energy transformation, please read Gil McGowan’s opinion article in the Calgary Herald or Edmonton Journal and follow the Alberta Federation of Labour’s campaign: nextalberta.org.